Gay Key Wt Events Calendar | LGBTQ Key Wt

Contents:

• HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT
• HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM
• DPE KEY WT'S GAY-FRIENDLY HISTORY, GAY MARRIAGE TOOK THIS LONG
• GET TO KNOW THE RADIL SPIR OF GAY KEY WT THAT KEEPS CALLG LGBTQ+ TRAVELERS
• GAY KEY WT EVENTS CALENDAR
• GAY KEY WT · CY GUI
• KEY WEST: JUDGE RUL GAY MEN’S CLOTHG OPTNAL RORT CAN’T BAN WOMEN.
• GAY GUI TO KEY WT
• WELE TO GAY KEY WT!
• 10 REASONS EVERY GAY 20-SOMETHG SHOULD GO TO KEY WT BEFORE THEY’RE 30

HOW THE GAYS SAVED KEY WT

Word was circulatg among the creative gay culture New York Cy, Philalphia, Chigo, Washgton, D. Other gay artists, notabl, cultural arbers, doyens, publishers, eccentric illumati and jt cur gay travelers followed wh their own entourag, assorted iends and acquatanc. Back when gay life existed a parallel universe—clared a natnal secury threat by the feral ernment, thlsly vtigated by the Florida state legislature and stigmatized as mentally ill by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, so many this generatn were separated om jobs, birth fai and a harshly tolerant mastream society.

By the 1970s the stream of gay visors to the island had turned to a torrent wh more than thirty same sex gut ho on the small island terg to gay men.

It was 1967 that a gay native Key Wter, David Wolkowsky built the first te rort on the island, the Pier Hoe loted at Zero Duval Street.

HOW GAY/LBIAN IS KEY WT THE DAYS? - KEY WT FOM

By the early 1970s word had begun to filter north throughout gay culture that Key Wt was one of the few tly acceptg, e-as-you-are, quirky, fun plac the world where LGBTQ people uld exprs their creativy, their eedom and their love. Other gay thet and lears such as New York attorney Ferdand Court; real tate veloper and Washgton cultural force Bob Alfandre (1927-2014); publisher/thor Joe Famularo; Jam G.

DPE KEY WT'S GAY-FRIENDLY HISTORY, GAY MARRIAGE TOOK THIS LONG

This tasteful ti of sign and rtoratn washed over the island driven by dozens of gay men, and the real tate market rpond wh fervor!

GET TO KNOW THE RADIL SPIR OF GAY KEY WT THAT KEEPS CALLG LGBTQ+ TRAVELERS

In 1978 a group of gay bsmen on the island me together to addrs the specific missn of marketg to the LGBTQ traveler. It was no secret that gay visors had expendable e and were eager, adaptive travelers and the pk dollar had power!

One year later 1979, four iends, all of whom were openly gay bsmen, met to produce one of the most important enomic eng on the island. Halloween had bee a much-loved holiday the gay world, but historilly the end of October had been a moribund season Key Wt.

GAY KEY WT EVENTS CALENDAR

Bolsterg Key Wt’s fame as an novator and early pneer LGBTQ travel promotn, lol travel agents and hoteliers me together 1983 to tablish the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn (IGLTA), a worldwi anizatn that today boasts 1, 200 members and growg. One of the key movers the foundg of the anizatn was Hanns Ebensten (1923-2006), the first openly gay tour operator the U. And the “Inventor of Gay Travel” who moved to Key Wt the early 1970s wh his longtime partner Brian Kenny.

GAY KEY WT · CY GUI

Ebensten anized the very first official tour of gay men 1972 wh a rog trip down the Colorado River.

Not long after Ebensten produced the first anized trips for gay men to the Galapagos Islands, Egypt and Easter Island. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s gay wrers ntued to be drawn to the island matag Key Wt’s legacy as a safe harbor of spiratn, eedom and creativy.

KEY WEST: JUDGE RUL GAY MEN’S CLOTHG OPTNAL RORT CAN’T BAN WOMEN.

By the mid 1980s Key Wt beme a preferred statn of choice for sr of gay men for a very different reason.

Diagnosed HIV posive and often rejected, even spurned back home, the gay men fled to the warmer, more acceptg embrace of the island.

GAY GUI TO KEY WT

Openly gay physician Jerome Covgton and his straight practice partner Mark Whi were at the foreont of the HIV tsunami that h the ltle island the early days, and they performed heroic work on behalf of the gay muny.

And much like other LGBTQ enclav at the time, the island’s lbian muny stepped up as primary regivers to so many of the gay men sufferg their last days away om home and away om fai.

WELE TO GAY KEY WT!

In 1997 a group of lol gay philanthropists on the island me together to tablish a visible, meangful monument to the memory of the victims of this horrific panmic. The recently retired Chief of Police, native son Donie Lee, is openly gay as is the recently retired Supertennt of Schools and noted philanthropist, John Padget.

10 REASONS EVERY GAY 20-SOMETHG SHOULD GO TO KEY WT BEFORE THEY’RE 30

Gay rints are woven to the fabric of the island and serve the fire partment, school system, sheriff’s office, non-prof anizatns and bs muny.

For much more on gay lerary history Key Wt, see “Shootg Midnight Cowboy” by Glenn Frankel (Farrar, Strs and Giroux, 2021). Herlihy me to love Key Wt “largely for the same reasons that had attracted (Tennsee) Williams: …beg part of an exclive unofficial club of gay artists who supported each other.